By Tony Okonmah

Efforts are made in this article not to compromise the difficult task facing the honourable House of Representatives and their mandate to cleanse the capital market riddled with corruption. However, I am afraid that the allegation against the DG, SEC, Arunma Oteh, is looking very much like a fight pitted in the wrong direction.

First and foremost, it is important that Nigerians understand what the House Committee sets out to do. In other words, what are their terms of reference and the scope?

Rep. Herman Hembe & Ms. Arummah Oteh

Is the House investigating the causes of the capital market’s near collapse of 2008 and 2009 or is it investigating the activities and by extension, the score card of the DG, SEC, who was appointed on a damage repair mission in January 2010 after Musa AL-Faki (Former DG) resigned in April 2009 for criticisms of SEC’s role in share manipulation scandal involving African Petroleum’s stock?

Amongst my submission in this report is that the honourable House can work from the present backward to the time in question but the issue is whether the allegations leveled against the DG, SEC, are more important concerns for the House than the imploded catastrophes and nightmares suffered by investors as a result of the capital market’s collapse of 2009.

While Nigerians will no longer tolerate waste and mismanagement, we must not forget that the House was set out to investigate the cause of the collapse of the capital market and the “assumed unfair protection” enjoyed by big organisations from SEC at the expense of the increased risk exposure to other investors.

Whether this investigation is achieving the terms of reference is yet to be clearly seen. It is gradually looking blurred and a macabre is developing that suggests the move of someone on a personal vendetta and motive.

To the poverty stricken and ravaged Nigerians still smothered under the effects of decades of mismanagement by past and present leaders, the amount of money Arunma Oteh is accused of embezzling are staggering.

But, considering the press release by Securities and Exchange Commission in defence of the DG and the high cost of living in Nigeria (Abuja in particular), and the high profile status of the accused, the mentioned amount and the spending, without making excuses for Arunma Oteh or SEC, could be justified.

If we seek transparency in public offices, may I ask that all senior public officers (from the president to the local government councillors) should publish their accounts for all Nigerians to see.

We must be careful not to be goaded into selective vindictive mission and blackmails in the crusade to discourage honest credible Nigerians who genuinely devoted themselves to serve our beloved country and help bring it back on its feet again.

Now that Hon. Herman Hembe has resigned as the chairman of the House Committee and an ad hoc committee has been set up to continue with the investigation, the new committee owes Nigerians an unbiased report and a more focused mission.

•Tony Okonmah, a financial adviser and analyst wrote from London